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Schedule Standouts

*Sensibility has returned with the Bucs playing 4:15 home games in September — Panthers on opening day followed by the Redskins on Sept. 30. It’s brainless to play 1 o’clock games in Florida in September. Maybe, just maybe, this will help Bucs attendance a bit.

*Unfortunately, the Bucs didn’t get the Saints early; their first meeting is Week 7. There’s going to be some suspensions and various disarray with the Saints early, but the Bucs won’t catch it.

*Only one national night game, Thursday, Oct. 25, against the Vikings on NFL Network. Adrian Peterson should be back 100 percent by then, which is probably why the NFL paired the Bucs and Vikings, so the fantasy geeks with Peterson will drive ratings for a likely low-demand game.

*At the Broncos and Peyton Manning on Dec. 2. Ugh. Anything in December in Denver is not a pretty picture.

*Michael Vick and the Eagles on Dec. 9 in Tampa. Has Vick ever played before a non-soldout stadium?

*The bye in Week 5 is a good thing. The Bucs and Greg Schiano get four games under their belt and time off to kick more ass re-evaluate. Hopefully, the Bucs are sitting on at least a 2-2 record.

39 Responses to “Schedule Standouts”

The Saints bye week is week 6 so at the very least the Bucs will play them the week before Vitt and I think Loomis come off suspension. Heres to hoping Vilma, Harper and Smith have at least 6 game suspensions!

I am just excited to get that bad taste of 2011 out of my system. I’m already booking my trip to Tampa for the Falcons game, then going to stay on the mainland to go to Denver the next week. It can’t be any worse than the 2 games I went to last year (at SF and at Atlanta). Marshall Faulk predicted us to win the NFC South, FYI.

Hey Pete, This will be the 4th season in a row that the Bucs open the season at home. The longest such streak in team history. Last year Detroit, 2010 was Cleveland, 2009 was Dallas. All home opening day games. 2009 was last time we opened on the road. It was in New Orleans.

I would sure as hell rather open at home against Carolina than open on the road in New York. We are not a good enough team where any game is going to be easy. Every week we are going to be playing against a team more than capable of beating us. I doubt we will be favored for too many games. That’s all okay, because it is a lot easier to surprise teams when you are off the radar.

The question of has Michael Vick played in front of non-sold out crowds. The answer is yes. Oakland in 2009 is one example. And yes, the Falcons did have blackouts during Vick’s time there but only his first season.

The NFL schedule rotates every year, and is very fair. Obviously 6 of your 16 games are against your division rivals. You play one AFC conference every year (this year its the AFC West), and it rotates every year (so you play each AFC team every 4 years). You also play one division in the NFC (this year is the NFC East), which also rotates every year. Lastly, the final 2 games are against one team from the other 2 divisions in the NFC, against the team that finished the same place in their division as we did in the NFC South (which is last place, which gives us St. Louis and Minnesota). Those last 2 games are the only ones that differ from the Panthers, Saints, and Falcons. The NFL scheduling is very fair, so we have nothing to complain about.

Actually, they did talk about us (Marshall Faulk and Michael Irvin). They talked about our offseason moves, and about Greg Schiano. Faulk was much more optimistic than Irvin. Irvin said we needed another WR to eat up the middle of the field, and that we needed a RB. Faulk predicted us to win the NFC South, and Irvin said if we got Blackmon, he would agree. I was shocked, but a little disappointed, because that is usually the kiss of death. But in fairness, they did give us some air time.

Not much faith there JB! My money is going to be on the fact that poor coaching and a non existant system were more to blame for last year than the overall talent on this team. We’ll see though! 8-8 would be a nice start to the new regime.